


No Kryptonians Allowed

by middnighter



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics), Superman (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Capes, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Family Feels, Humor, Krypton Survives, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, bruce is still batman, but an alien-hunting batman not a vigilante batman, kal was raised by jor-el and lara on krypton, there are no superheroes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-30 08:00:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14492448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/middnighter/pseuds/middnighter
Summary: The last thing Kal-El expected was for his soulmate to be an alien hunter from Earth, who hates off-worlders with a burning passion.





	No Kryptonians Allowed

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the 2018 Superbat Reverse Bang. This fic is the companion piece to [this amazing piece of art](http://jolbalrok.tumblr.com/post/173458409035/superbat-reverse-bang-2018-i-had-the-pleasure-to) by [jolbalrok](http://jolbalrok.tumblr.com/)! He was so much fun to work with, give his art some love!

When Kal-El opened his eyes, everything was different. There was a tingling at his fingertips, and he felt finally whole. Like he had just been reunited with a missing part of himself, like someone had turned the lights on. And just like that, he knew. His soulmark had appeared.

Kal could barely contain his excitement at the thought of finally having a clue about who the person who would eventually share the rest of his life was. He jumped out of his bed and ran to get in front of the mirror, stumbling as he removed his shirt in the process.

There was the mark, across his chest. It was black, in a pointy shape he didn’t recognize. He ran his fingers over it, staring at his reflection. The skin felt tingly.

A smile light up his face. He had waited all his life for this, hearing the stories of his parents' meeting, dreaming about the day he would meet his soulmate and fall in love with them. He closed his eyes, hand flat over his soulmark, and reached out.

Every pair of soulmates shared a bond, that pulled them together and allowed them to feel the other’s emotions and even share some thoughts, depending on how close they were. Kal’s bond had just formed, and wasn’t as strong as he hoped it would grow to be, but he couldn’t help but try to get to that other person. Who were they? Where did his mark show up on their body? Where did they live?

A very faint _away_ eventually reached him. He opened his eyes, amazed at the thought of another voice than his onside his head. It wasn’t his soulmate’s yet, it was the bond’s, but it was enough to send him running downstairs to his parents’ kitchen, not even bothering to put his shirt on.

Jor and Lara were sitting at the table, and both turned to him as they heard his footsteps. Lara was barely hiding a smile. “So, today’s the big day?” she said, looking at his bare torso.

“Yes,” Kal said as he sat down in front of them, chin resting on one had.

“What house are they from?” Jor asked.

“I have no idea. I have never seen this symbol before.” He gestured to his chest with his free hand. “See?”

“I don’t think it’s from around here,” Lara said, squinting. “Maybe an off-worlder?” It wasn’t common, but not unheard of either.

When a soulmark appeared, it was usually the symbol of their soulmate’s house. So Kal’s soulmate, wherever they were, had the House of El emblem somewhere on their body. But Kal didn’t remember seeing anything that even looked like his own soulmark on anyone’s clothing.

Jor shared a look with Lara. “When your mother’s mark appeared on my skin, I knew what I had to do. I couldn’t explain it, but I knew. What do you feel?”

“It’s very faint, but there is definitely something there.” Kal took a breath in. “It tells me to go away from here. I don’t know where, just… away.”

“We knew this day would come,” Lara said fondly as Jor nodded. “It’s every parent’s dream, to see their child leave to find their soulmate.”

“We’ll get you a ship,” Jor said.

“Don’t forget to call from time to time,” Lara added. “And bring them here to dinner when you find them.”

* * *

 After a few weeks of circling the planet and asking public records about the mysterious symbol, he came to the conclusion that his soulmate was not from this planet. No one had seen anything that looked like that, and his best guess was that it was some sort of stylized bird with pointy ears.

He traded his ship for one that could fly through space, he kissed his parents goodbye — ”Are you sure we can’t get someone to make the journey with you? “Mom, I’ll be fine, don’t worry.” — and he left Krypton.

He brought a universal translator with him, as well as a database of everything Kryptonians knew about all the planets they had discovered. Kal hoped he wouldn’t have to check every single one of them.

As it turned out, he could feel in which direction he needed to go, the pull getting stronger every light-year he passed.

The trip took a few months of wandering through the galaxy, and he didn’t encounter any trouble. The most eventful thing that happened was taking aboard an out of juice Green Lantern who was hitchhiking a ride back to the planet Earth. It was the general direction Kel felt was drawing him in, so it worked out fine.

Kal was fairly curious about meeting an off-worlder for the first time, and the Lantern, Hal Jordan, told him about some of his country’s customs. Kal told him about Krypton’s. It was nice to have someone along, who was not his parents’ preprogrammed hologram. And Hal was pretty funny, even if most of the references flew over Kal’s head.

By the time they reached Earth and Kal dropped him off, he realized that the pull didn’t pushed him towards _away_ anymore. It was stronger, and more grounded. So he brought down his ship in an wasteland, at the south pole, to avoid any unwanted attention. The last thing he wanted was to end up some kind of media sensation, and from what Hal Jordan had said, off-worlders weren’t a common occurence here.

He spent a few days getting used to the different atmosphere and gravity. To his surprise, he discovered that he could fly, go faster than everything around him, and even shoot lasers out of his eyes. The speed was especially useful for reading about the cultures of Earth in record time and learn the ten most widely spoken languages. He didn’t want any mistranslations to confuse his soulmate. They had to be pretty confused already, with a mark on their body that they didn’t know the reason for.

He expected pretty much everything to happen, from denial to even some screaming. He couldn’t help feeling a little bit anxious, but hey, the person was his soulmate. If Rao brought them together, it was for a reason, because they would fit together better than with anyone else. There was no reason for this to go bad in any way.

… Right?

* * *

Kal could not have been more wrong.

“Wait!” he yelled from behind a stack of shipping boxes, that were shielding from the pink light beam being fired in his direction. “Let me explain!”

“No,” his soulmate yelled back.

“Please!” Kal jumped away from his hiding spot as the boxes blew up, and reached another one behind a container. “I just want to talk!” he tried again.

He didn’t know if the beam could actually hurt him, he was yet to find something on this planet that could, but he wasn’t going to push his luck. Thankfully the warehouse they were in was empty, so he didn’t have to worry about humans getting hurt in the crossfire.

“I don’t want to talk, I want you to leave this planet. Aliens aren’t welcome here!”

And there his soulmate was again. It was definitely him, Kal could feel the electricity crackling at his fingertips more intensely than ever before, and the man was wearing on his chest the symbol that showed up on Kal’s that morning, so things added up nicely.

Well, except for the part where his soulmate was trying to kill him. But it was probably just a misunderstanding —Kal too would be freaked out if he didn’t know what soulmates were and his body started acting up. And Kal didn’t think anyone would be closed to a nice and polite conversation, as soon as he realised that Kal wasn’t a threat.

Maybe he shouldn’t have gone with the formal Kryptonian attire. It was possible that this kind of clothing had another meaning on this planet, something like _uuaaargh I have a thirst for blood and world domination_ , that Kal didn’t know about, and that he was accidentally conveying. But when he had gotten up this morning, it had felt right, with the symbol of the house of El, of hope, proudly displayed on his chest, even if the cape got a little bit in his way.

He had flown around the planet, listening to the bond and looking for his soulmate. When he had landed, he had been near a city, and had felt his soulmate getting closer and closer, even as he wasn’t moving. He had been overjoyed at first, that his soulmate was feeling him too and wanted to meet him as much as he wanted to meet them.

But then Kal had seen the gun, and the light beam being fired at the sky, and heard the deep, artificial sounding voice saying, _“Go away. We do not like your kind here.”_

And that was when the fighting had started.

“I mean no harm,” Kal said from behind his container. “Would you please stop firing that at me? There is something we need to talk about!”

The firing stopped. “Is that something putting the planet in danger?”

“Well, no, but—”

“Then I don’t want to hear about it.”

And the firing started again. But Kal was not about to leave, not after seeing his soulmate for only a few minutes.

“Stop!” he said. “I surrender!” He was pretty sure he could overpower the man anyway —Rao, he didn’t even know his soulmate’s _name_ yet and he was already asking Kal to leave—, with his speed and his strength, but somehow he felt that fighting him would not arrange the situation by any means.

“Then leave this planet right now!”

“I just want to talk. If after that you still want me to leave, then I will. I only ask for one conversation.”

The firing stopped again. “Fine,” his soulmate said eventually.

“... Can I get out yet or are you going to try to faze me out of existence with that thing?”

“You can get out.” Even through the modulator, Kal could hear the hint of annoyance.

Kal peeked out of his hiding spot, and then walked out of it after seeing that the gun had been turned off. “My name is Kal-El,” he said. “I am from the planet Krypton, and I believe that you are my soulmate.”

“I am your _what_?”

Kal explained to him what soulmates were for Kryptonians. He couldn’t tell what the man was thinking of his story —the bond was not settled enough to allow Kal to feel his soulmate’s emotions through it, and the cowl made it hard to guess— but at least he didn’t start firing shots at him again.

“Hm,” the man said once Kal finished explaining everything to him.

“So, I’m not mistaken? You have the mark, too? And” —Kal felt a little silly for not bringing it up earlier— “what is your name?”

“I am referred to as Batman,” the man —Batman— said. “And yes, I have a mark. I had no idea what it meant. What you’re telling me explains a lot about what has been happening to me in the past few months.”

“You couldn’t have known, you don’t seem to be meeting a lot of Kryptonians here.”

“I do keep a fairly strict no alien policy for this planet. Which reminds me, I accorded you a talk. We talked. Now get out of my world, like you said you would.”

“No, wait, I’m not a threat, there is a Green Lantern, who can vouch for me—”

“That doesn’t really help you case. The Lanterns and I have very different ideas about how to best protect Earth. We don’t exactly get along.” Batman’s lips pinched together in contempt. “And I don’t care about your intentions. I don’t want any alien on my planet.”

Shit. Bringing up the Green Lanterns, who were a beacon of hope, order and peace on Krypton, had seemed like a good idea, but it looked like Kal was making it worse. Oh Rao.

It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. His soulmate was supposed to welcome him, and then they would go on dates and spend time together, and fall in love. That was the way it happened for his parents, and Kal never really prepared himself for a rejection. After all, they were meant to be, right? Kal understood that soulmates weren’t a part of Earth’s culture, but he had hoped that after the explanation, his soulmate would agree to at least give him a chance.

But he wasn’t going to leave now. Not after travelling across galaxies to meet his soulmate, not after seeing him right with his very eyes. Surely there was something that could change Batman’s mind, and Kal had the feeling that the _we are made for each other_ angle wouldn’t work here. He had to find another approach.

“So you hunt aliens off of this Earth, right? I could help with that. I don’t know what it is about this planet, but I have incredible abilities here. I can help you train, or test new weapons, and I have most of my planet’s knowledge with me on my ship, and someone like you would probably find that useful.” Kal bit his lip. “What do you think?”

Batman stayed silent for a while, and Kal was ready to fly right behind the container if he decided to turn his giant gun on again.

“Who is the Lantern?” he finally asked.

Kal let out a sigh of relief. “His name is Hal Jordan. I gave him a ride back here when I arrived.”

Batman groaned. “Of course,” he muttered to himself. “It has to be Jordan.”

“Do you know him?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” Batman pinched the bridge of his nose through the mask that was covering it. “Fine,” he said. “Come back tomorrow, here, at sundown. Bring Jordan with you. We will talk about what to do with you then.”

Kal clasped his hands together. “Thank you! You won’t regret it.”

“I hope I don’t have to say that if you touch a hair on anyone’s head here, the deal’s off and I will hunt you down.”

“Of course,” Kal said after a pause, brows drawn together in confusion. Maybe Earthlings were really protective about their hair? Was it some sort of really private thing for them? Maybe that was why Batman kept his hair covered with that mask. Rao, maybe he took offense on seeing Kal’s naked head. He would ask Hal Jordan all about it later.

After one last menacing glance —or what Kal assumed was a menacing glance, with the covered eyes he could only make out a menacing pout, which wasn’t very intimidating— Batman grabbed something from his belt, shot it a a window and flew away though it, pulled by some kind of metal rope.

Well, that went… pretty okay, considering. It could have gone worse, they could have been actually fighting, instead of bickering back and forth and sticking to warning shots. If Batman truly wanted him dead, he would probably have tried some of the many settings on his gun, instead of sticking to one. And what could it have done to him, when it didn’t even damage the place much, which Kal noticed as he looked around.

Well, except for the stack of shipping boxes, but those didn’t look very sturdy anyway. He saw a discarded one being carried away by the wind.

He walked out of the warehouse, bracing himself for the flight back to his ship. He wasn’t so used to how his body was behaving on this planet, and yeah, he could understand Batman’s point of not wanting a superpowered alien flying around. Who knew, maybe all the previous off-worlders who visited this planet were all huge fans of world domination. That certainly would cause weariness.

But Kal was confident he could get Batman to change his mind, if not about aliens in general, then at least about him in particular.

Now, he only needed to find Hal Jordan.

* * *

“You know, I could have given you my number, it would have been easier than _this_ ,” Hal Jordan said.

Kal looked at the huge Green Lantern symbol he had burned on the ground with his heat vision. “It worked, didn’t it?”

“Yes, it did.” He sat on a stool he constructed with his ring. “So, why did you want to see me? Are you in danger?”

“I don’t think so? At least, not yet. But I will be if you don’t come with me to see Batman tonight.”

“Batman? I thought he hated aliens. What business do you have with him?”

“It turns out he is my soulmate.”

Hal winced. “I can picture how this conversation went down.” He turned the stool into a couch, tilting his head at the spot next to him.

Kal sat down, and the cushions were strangely warm under him. He squirmed a little bit. “Well, yeah, he wasn’t very fond of the idea.” He paused for a moment. “I see that your hair isn’t covered.”

“... Did Batman say something about my hair?”

“No! No. He said that if I touched people’s hair on their heads, I would be in big trouble. I didn’t quite get what that meant, I assumed that hair is really important to you Earthlings? … Stop laughing!”

Hal didn’t fall off the couch giggling, but he was close. “‘Don’t touch a hair on their head’ is an expression to say ‘don’t hurt them’,” he said once he caught his breath. “You don’t need to worry about people’s hair.”

Yeah, that made sense.

“Thanks for clearing that out.”

“You’re welcome, buddy,” Hal said, still chuckling. “So, about your whole Batman soulmate situation?”

“Right. Well, you know how soulmates work for us Kryptonians, right?”

Hal nodded.

“Well, when I reached him, he wasn’t happy to see me. He wasn’t even going to let me stay here, until I mentioned that you were okay with me, and he’s still not convinced that I’m not some kind of threat. He wants to meet us both tonight, and then he’ll decide on whether I can stay or not. What’s up with him?”

Hal sighed, and propped his feet on top of a table he constructed in front of the couch.

“It’s a bit complicated. In short, Earth hasn’t discovered space travel yet, and the only contact they have had with off-worlders are either nutjobs who want to take over the world, or lost tourists. They know that I exist, but they don’t know about the Corps. The only person who knows about all of this is Batman. He has only met the aspiring dictators before, so that’s why he doesn’t trust anyone born on another planet. He took the mission to protect this planet from invasion.”

“Isn’t that your job, as a Green Lantern? This is your sector, right?”

“I mean, yeah, but he doesn’t trust me. No way in Hell he would leave the protection of his home planet to some guy with a ring part with an intergalactic organisation.” Hal winced in sympathy. “What a mess of a situation you’re in. If I found out that my soulmate was the Bat, I’d get the hell out of this planet.”

Kal considered it for a moment. “That would be the easy way out. But it wouldn’t work on the long run. We basically share a part of our minds now. The bond would drive us crazy if we stay on bad terms and don’t at least get along.” He sighed. “I’ll just have to show him that not all aliens are as bad as he sees them.”

Hal winced. “Yeah, good luck with that.”

* * *

 They spent the remaining of the day talking about human customs and how to get the meeting with Batman to go as smoothly as possible.

He was already waiting for them at the warehouse.

“Hiya, Bats!” Hal said. “Long time no see! What’s up?”

“I do not wish to share that information with you,” ‘Bats’ said, keeping on a stern expression —as far as Kal could tell anyway, with the cowl in the way.

Hal rolled his eyes. “It’s _so_ nice to see you too.”

Batman turned to Hal, deliberately not looking at Kal or even acknowledging his presence. “The alien told me you are vouching for him. Is that true?”

“I’m right here,” Kal said under his breath.

“Yeah, Kal’s a good dude. You should really hear him out. I was around him for like two weeks when he gave me a ride back here, the guy is clean. And if he isn’t, then he’s one hell of an actor, and you should definitely keep an eye on him anyway.”

Hal gave him his most innocent smile, and winked at Kal.

Batman’s lips disappeared into a thin line. For a moment it seemed to Kal that he was going to refuse, just like he did before, and he quickly went over every argument he had to offer. He was not about to give up now.

“Fine,” Batman snapped, much to Kal’s surprise.

Kal folded his hands together and was not able to repress a smile. “You will not regret it!”

Batman looked like he already was. “You’re coming with me,” he said facing Kal. Then he pointed at Hal. “You will keep watch around Gotham City. If the alien tries anything, I expect you to interfere. Do not let anyone get hurt.” He crossed his arms around his chest. “Is that clear?”

“Yeah,” Hal grumbled, obviously not enjoying being bossed around, as Kal nodded enthusiastically.

Batman gave Hal a nod, then turned away and walked to a plane that looked kind of like Kal’s, except smaller and black. He waved at Kal to follow him.

“Always a pleasure doing business with you, Bats,” Hal said, raising his ring. “See ya, Kal.” The green of his costume light brighter as he hovered above the ground and flew away.

Kal waved him goodbye and followed Batman in the plane. The interior was just as black as the outside of the plane and Batman’s outfit were, and it would be entirely dark if it weren’t for the blue and yellow glow coming from the various screens and buttons.

Batman sat behind the main control panel, pointing at the seat next to him.

“It’s a nice plane,” Kal said, sitting down. Not really his style, but nice anyway.

Batman grunted in response, and the plane took off.

* * *

 They landed away from the city, in the middle of some trees that were too well-trimmed to be a wild forest.

The plane ride had been kind of awkward, with Batman not responding any of Kal’s attempts to start a conversation. Kal was trying not to get discouraged. The universe didn’t make mistakes. They were soulmates for a reason. He just had to find the angle that would let Batman open up, that would make this work.

They walked out of the forest, reaching a park that was surrounding a huge house. Kal didn’t know much about Earth architecture —not that he knew much about Krypton’s architecture either— but it seemed old. It wasn’t the kind of home he would associate with the man he’d just met.

Once they reached the doorstep, Batman removed his cowl. His black hair was shorter and straighter than Kal’s, and his eyes were of a clearer shade of blue. He was gorgeous, and Kal could have appreciated his beauty with more ease if Batman wasn’t staring at him with a frown.

“My name is Bruce,” he said. “Bruce Wayne.”

Kal tilted his head. “I thought your name was Batman.”

Batman gave him a look, and Kal wished he knew him well enough to be able to tell what it meant.

“Batman is what I do, Bruce is who I am,” Batman said eventually. “The people I care about call me Bruce. You’re still calling me Batman. I was just letting you know.”

Family?

Before Kal got to answer, the door opened. A lean old man stood there, eyes of the same blue as Batman’s.

“Master Bruce,” he greeted Batman. “I see you have brought a guest.”

“This is Kal-El, he’s an alien from Krypton. Kal-El, this is Alfred.”

Kal gave him a little wave. Alfred’s eyebrows rose up briefly. “Welcome to Wayne Manor, Mister El.”

“And he’s not a guest,” Batman cleared up. “He’s just gonna stay around for a while. For _work_. Please get a room ready.”

“Ah, that kind of work,” Alfred said, staring curiously at Kal. “I see.”

Alfred’s gaze on him made Kal nervous. He didn’t know what to do with his hands so he scratched the back of his head.

Alfred took a step back and Batman entered the house. Kal walked behind him, looking at the sophisticated furniture.

“Come with me,” Batman said.

Kal followed him up the staircase, through a corridor and inside a study. Batman walked to a bookshelf, drawing a book out by only a few inches, and pushing it back next to the others. With a muffled rumble, the shelf opened in two, revealing a hidden door. Batman pressed a few buttons on some kind of keypad, and the door opened on more stairs. They weren’t made of the polished wood of the main hall, instead of rough grey stone. Kal had to bow his head to walk down the steps.

They reached an underground cave, and Kal recognized in the screens and the computers the same kind of technology he saw the plane. It smelt damp, and Kal could hear wings fluttering.

“This is the Batcave,” Batman said, turning around to face Kal.

“Very cosy,” Kal said.

Batman grabbed the strap of his gun and removed it from his shoulder, putting it on a bench. The gun was bigger than Kal’s arm, and Batman looked taller without it. He started to remove his gloves. “So, tell me more about the soulmates thing.”

Kal told him about the mark that showed on his chest, and about the bond that they now shared. Since they were going to share a part of their minds, they had to at least get along, or else it would get unbearable very quickly.

Batman finished removing his suit, standing in his boxers. On his chest was the symbol of the house of El, bright red. Kal couldn’t help a hint of pride and possessiveness. That was his soulmate. The person the universe decided was perfect for him. Everything was going to go well.

“Humans don’t have soulmates,” Batman said, putting on a T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. “You can imagine how surprised I was to see _this_ ” —he gestured at his chest— “show up on my skin with no warning one morning.”

Kal nodded. “I hope my explanations were clear enough.”

“They were.” Batman didn’t comment further, instead staring at Kal, who was frustrated to see that his face was still as unreadable as the cowl was.

“So, how is this going to work?” Kal asked, breaking the silence.

“You will have a room upstairs. You are not expected to leave it unless I come get you and take you down here, where you will tell me more about aliens and how to best protect my people from your kind. Alfred will deliver you food three times a day.”

Kal frowned. “Why am I being grounded?”

“Because there are children living in this house and I don’t trust you.”

Yet, Kal hoped. “You have children?”

“Yes. Dick and Jason. Do not hurt them. Do not talk to them. Do not try to see them. I will do anything to protect them, and that includes killing you if I need to.”

“I’m sorry,” Kal said, taking a step back, not sure what he was apologizing for. “I didn’t know.” Then it hit him. “Wait, that must mean that you already have someone in your life? A partner?”

Kal didn’t want to break anyone up. If Batman was already in a relationship he would step down, no questions asked.

That stare was back again. “No,” Batman said after a moment. “I adopted my sons. Alfred is my butler. I don’t have anyone else.”

It was relieving to hear. “That’s good,” he said mindlessly. “There is nothing preventing us from being together, then.”

Batman sighed, and Kal felt a faint emotion coming from the bond, but it flickered away before he could identity it. “Kal-El, I don’t even know you,” Batman said, crossing his arms. “I will not date you on the basis of us being are soulmates. I do not know how relationships work on Krypton, but here on Earth, it’s about love. Not fate.”

“Alright,” Kal said, trying to hide the hint of disappointment. That was not the way it usually went in the stories his parents told him.

Batman was still looking right at him, like he was expecting to find answers in Kal’s eyes. Kal swallowed.

After a moment, Batman turned away. “That’s enough for today,” he said. “I will show you to your room.”

Batman walked up the stairs, and Kal followed him. They came out through the study and stepped down the corridor. Batman opened a door. “Come in,” he said, tilting his head.

The room was huge, the furniture matching the rest of the house. It smelled like cleaning product. It had a bed, a closet, a couch, a coffee table, a small bathroom. The lack of a kitchen was the only indication that this was indeed a bedroom and not a separate flat entirely.

“If you need anything, ring this.” Batman handed him a box with little buttons. “I will come to you. Do not leave this room.”

“Fine,” Kal said. “You can trust me on this.” If his soulmate needed him to do this to understand that he wasn’t a threat, then so be it. No one said it was going to be easy.

“We’ll see. Goodnight, Kal-El,” Batman said, leaving the room and closing the door.

“Goodnight, Batman,” Kal said to the empty space where Batman still was only seconds ago. That man was fast.

He lay on the bed, hands folded behind his head. He hoped that the next day wouldn’t be as tense as today had been.

* * *

 Knocks on the door woke up Kal. The door opened before he could get out of the bed.

“Good morning, Mister El,” Alfred said, pushing a cart into the room.

“Good morning,” Kal mumbled back.

“I brought breakfast,” Alfred said. He put a tray on the table near the couch and left the room with a nod to Kal who was still under the covers.

He rubbed his eyes and stepped out of the bed. The food smelled amazing. He sat down on the couch, looking at the plates. One of the plates only had a piece of paper neatly folded in half. _Get ready, we start in half an hour_ , _-Batman_ , it read. Kal tossed it aside, picked up the fork and took a bite of the omelet —and it tasted as good as it smelled.

He ate everything, and even if the food was different from what he usually had on Krypton it was delicious. He had to ask that Alfred guy about the recipe, his parents would love do discover new food.

He took a shower and got dressed. When he got out of the bathroom, Batman was standing in the middle of the room, wearing a black turtleneck with grey pants.

“Good morning,” Kal said, a little startled. He hadn’t heard him enter.

Batman grunted a hello in response and waved at him to follow him. They walked to the Batcave in silence.

Kal looked around, trying to get a better idea of the place where his soulmate spent his time. There was no sunlight in there, so the cave was lit with various spotlights that gave him three different shadows. He looked up and saw the source of the fluttering of wings he heard the day before —a colony of bats. Kal wondered if they lived here originally or if Batman moved them here to stay on brand.

There also was what looked like a training area, with punching bags and a boxing ring. Next to that, shelves where various weapons and other weird objects were exposed. An empty coffee mug was sitting armrest of the chair in front of the giant computer screen.

“Do you know where the limit of your powers stands?” Batman asked, sitting down in the chair.

“Not really,” Kal said, moving his weight from one leg to the other. “I didn’t really look for that. I was too busy looking for you.”

“Great,” Batman grunted. “What do you know of your abilities already?”

“I can fly, I can move and think very fast, I can shoot lasers out of my eyes…”

Batman’s eyebrows furrowed more with each word. “We’re going to test that. Go wait for me at the boxing ring.”

Kal walked in the ring and stood there, as Batman opened a closet and took out his suit. Kal turned away as Batman changed from his civilian clothes into his work armor. He could at least give him some privacy.

Which was why he didn’t notice Batman tiptoeing to him and wrapping his arm around Kal’s neck in a headlock.

“Wha—”

He couldn’t breathe, his mouth opened and closed without making any sound, and he tried to reach behind him, do anything, but he was too focused on his empty lungs to do anything other than shiver. Had Batman’s invitation just been a ploy to kill him? Was he really going to die there?

“Fight back,” Batman growled in his ear.

Kal grabbed Batman’s arm, trying to pry it off his throat, but his grip was stronger than iron.

“ _Fight back_!”

Kal felt heat building around his eyes. He screwed them shut and pulled at Batman’s arm harder. It suddenly gave up under his fingers, and Kal fell forward to his knees, panting.

“What was that for?” he said once he managed to steady his breathing. He turned around and sat down on the floor, rubbing his throat.

Batman was looking at him with his head tilted. “You shouldn’t turn your back on people you don’t know.”

“You could have just told me that.”

Batman knelt next to him, looking at his neck. “Interesting,” he mused.

“What?”

“That should have left a bruise. But your skin is markless.”

Batman ran a gloved hand under Kal’s jaw, and the tenderness of the gesture contrasted with the grip he had on his throat only seconds ago.

Batman stood up, offering Kal his hand. “Get up,” he said. “We have a lot to see.”

Kal was a little weary, fearing another surprise attack but took his hand anyway. Batman only helped him get on his feet and didn’t try anything more than that.

Batman walked to the shelves and took out a glowing blue knife. Kal took a step back.

“Relax,” Batman said.

Kal was finding that a little hard to do right now. “Are you going to stab me with that?” he blurted out.

“No,” Batman said, much to his relief. “I’m going to _try_ to stab you.”

Before Kal could react, Batman reached forward to drive the knife through Kal’s arm. Kal took a step to the side, and the knife brushed against skin instead of going through the muscle. The blade shattered with a loud broken glass sound.

Batman dropped what remained of the knife on the ground, and took a step forward to look at Kal’s arm. The skin was intact.

“I guess we can add ‘indestructible skin’ to the list of your abilities. I’m going to need to run more tests.”

They spent the entire day in the cave, trying all kinds of weapons on him to see if anything could harm Kal. Knives, swords, guns, laser beams, nothing managed to do any damage to his skin.

“Were you always like that?” Batman asked him, wiping away the shards of yet another blade broken against Kal’s skin.

“No,” Kal said. “On Krypton, I can get hurt, and I couldn’t fly either. That’s all new for me.”

Batman looked at him with a frown. “If this is going to be the case with every Kryptonian who comes here, I need to be ready. I need to find something that can hurt you and people like you.”

Kal bit his lip. That was the reason why Batman agreed to take him in, after all —to learn new things about aliens and how to best protect his planet from them. That was the deal. “Right,” he said. “I’ll help you with that.”

* * *

 They established a routine. Alfred would wake the alien up with breakfast, then Bruce would bring him in the Batcave to experiment on his powers.

The day would start with a new prototype weapon Bruce designed the night before, that still didn’t manage to break Kal’s skin. As he worked on it at the workshop station, he had Kal-El push his powers to their limits. And it was worrying to see that after a few weeks of training, they still couldn’t find any.

Bruce had him lift tons of bricks, run around the cave as fast as he could, hover above the ground for eight hours straight, burn targets with his heat vision and then put out those fires with his breath. They also worked with his more discreet abilities, like his hearing and his ability to see through walls.

Between the training sessions, Kal-El told Bruce about his home on Krypton and what life was like there. He also told him what he knew about the other planets and civilisations —and Bruce made sure to write everything down. Any last bit of information could reveal itself to be useful.

Living with an alien under his roof wasn’t as challenging as he thought it would be. It was harder to fall asleep, sure. He still wasn’t trusting the guy, soulmate or not. But after a few weeks of working together, he grew more and more confident that it wasn’t all an elaborate plot to murder him, his family and his entire planet. Kal-El seemed like a decent person.

Because of this whole situation, most of his time was spent with Kal-El and he wasn’t spending as much time with his kids as he used to. He missed being able to spend entire afternoons playing with Jason and Dick in the garden, climbing trees and looking for lucky clovers, without having to worry about their _guest_.

And he wasn’t comfortable with the idea of an entire planet full of other invulnerable aliens. What if one of them decided to attack? Bruce couldn’t take them on right now. None of his weapons would work against that.

He threw his head back, hitting the back of the chair. The blue light coming off the computer screen was straining his eyes, and the back of his head hurt. He didn’t notice that Alfred was behind him until he cleared the back of his throat.

“Master Wayne? Is everything alright?”

“Yes, I’m just a little tired.” Which was an understatement. He had hardly slept at all for the past few days, too busy trying to find a weakness in the Kryptonian. He was seriously considering falling asleep right here, not even bothering to move to his bedroom.

Alfred put his hand on Bruce’s shoulder. “I have been looking at you train with Mister El.”

“What do you think of him?” Bruce asked. “Did I make a mistake, allowing him to stay here?”

“Not at all. On the contrary, he has shown himself to be a very respectful guest. He seems like a fine young man.”

“He’s not a man. He’s an alien.”

“A fine young person, then.” Alfred rubbed his thumb on Bruce’s shoulder. “I feel like you may have been a little hard on him. He doesn’t seem to be ill-intentioned. Is locking him up in his room like a prisoner really fair?”

“I can’t take any risks, Alfred.”

“I understand.”

Bruce turned in his chair to face him. Alfred’s eyebrows were raised, like he was expecting Bruce to say something.

“What?” Bruce said.

“I invited Mister El to have dinner with us tomorrow.”

“You did _what_?”

“We have both seen the extent of Mister El’s… abilities. If he wanted to hurt you or the young Masters, he would have done so already. He is not a prisoner, he is a guest. And I will treat him like a guest from now on.”

Bruce rubbed his temples with his fingertips. “Alfred—” he started.

“This is not up to debate, Master Bruce.” The look on Alfred’s eyes made that clear. “Dinner. Tomorrow.”

Bruce groaned. There was no arguing with the man who raised him.

“Fine,” he grunted. “I will tell Dick and Jason.”

“Good. Maybe Mister El would be good for you, Master Bruce. I cannot recall the last time we had a guest at the Manor.”

“Please don’t tell me you believe in this ludicrous soulmates thing—”

“Master Bruce. You haven’t had genuine conversations with anyone who wasn’t me or the young Masters in forever, until he came around. God knows you have a habit of not letting anyone in, and Mister El doesn’t seem like someone who can be easily pushed away.”

“What are you trying to say, Alfred?”

“If not a soulmate, I can only do you well to consider him a friend.”

A friend.

Alfred smiled at him and turned away, taking with him the empty coffee mugs surrounding the computer keyboard.

* * *

 Kal was feeling nervous.

He was looking at himself in the mirror, trying —and failing— to put his hair into some kind of order. He managed to slick most of it back, but one strand refused to join the others, curling over his forehead instead. He gave up.

He was wearing the Kryptonian suit, and made sure that the cape didn’t have any pleats. He was invited to a dinner, with his soulmate’s family. Maybe the cape was too much, maybe he was overdressed. But maybe he was _under_ dressed. And he didn’t know which one was worse.

“Get your shit together, Kal,” he said to himself in the mirror in his native Kryptonian. “You’ve got this.”

Someone knocked on the door —it had to be Alfred, since Batman didn’t usually bother with knocking and just entered his room whenever he pleased. “Come in,” Kal said, switching back to English.

Alfred opened the door. “Mister El, dinner is ready.”

Kal followed him to the dining room. The table looked like it could easily host ten people, but there were only five chairs. Batman and two young boys were already sitting at the table. This was the first time Kal saw them, having followed Batman’s rules of not trying to interact with them. As soon as Kal stepped up, the kids turned their heads to look at him.

“Kal-El, let me introduce you to Dick” —Dick waved at him— “and Jason” —Jason gave him a pout. Batman turned to them. “This is Kal-El, the alien.”

Dick was a little taller and looked a few years older than Jason, but they both couldn't be older than ten. They both had black hair, and it would have been hard to tell them apart if not for their eye color —Dick’s eyes were clear blue and Jason’s deep brown.

“Nice to meet you guys,” Kal said, and sat down.

A silence stretched while Alfred served them the food before sitting down with them. Kal was looking at Batman, unsure on how he was supposed to act around his kids, feeling their gaze on him. Batman gave him back an unreadable stare, and once again Kal caught himself wishing that their bond was stronger, so he could know what was on Batman’s mind.

“Is it true that you’re a big bad monster who kills people and shoots lasers out of his eyes?” Jason blurted out after a moment.

“Only one of these things is true,” Kal answered with a smile.

“You’re a big bad monster?”

“No, I just come from another planet.”

Jason gave him a confused frown. “So, you kill people?”

“No, I don’t. Never have, and I hope I never will.”

Jason opened his mouth, letting out an amazed sigh. “So you can shoot lasers out of your eyes?”

Kal could only squeeze in a “Yes” before Jason excitedly started talking again.

“That is so cool! Can you show me? Can you set a tree on fire? Please, B, please, can he do that? I wanna see!”

Batman was failing to repress a smile. “We won’t be setting the garden on fire.”

“Come on, B,” Dick said, “that is so awesome!”

Kal chuckled, the tension that was here moments ago dissipating. Dick and Jason were talking over each other too fast for Kal to decypher anything more than “why have you been hiding him” and “he is so cool”.

Once Batman managed to get them to calm down by promising them that they would eventually get to see Kal’s heat vision, the conversation settled on Kal and where he was coming from. The children’s questions were nothing like Batman’s had been, and Kal was having a good time explaining that no, they didn’t have pizza on Krypton, yes, he did need to take showers, no, he didn’t have any siblings, yes, he missed his parents sometimes but he was happy to be spending time here, so it wasn’t so bad.

The boys were very lively and the conversation never got boring. What surprised Kal the most was to see how Batman was behaving. He was smiling, looking at Dick and Jason with a lot of tenderness that Kal hadn’t seen on him before, laughing with them, and with Kal. It was like seeing the man under the armor for the first time.

Kal didn’t notice how much time went by, and the dinner was over way too soon to his liking. They all put the plates on a neat pile for Alfred to take to the dishwasher. It was getting late, so Jason went to his room —with quite a bit of complaining over not getting to see Kal’s laser eyes yet. He gave Kal a high-five before leaving.

“Can we keep him?” Dick asked Batman, tugging at his father’s hand. “Please, B, say yes.”

“Maybe you should ask Kal that,” Batman answered, ruffling his hair affectionately. “I don’t own him.”

“Can we keep you?” Dick said to Kal, looking up at him.

“That depends if you dad lets me stay,” Kal answered. “But I don’t have anywhere else to go, so I can stick around for a while.”

“Awesome,” Dick said, running to Kal to give him a hug. “Please don’t shoot lasers at me,” he whispered in his ear. “Daddy would kill you.”

“I would never,” Kal said with a falsely offended voice, hugging him back.

“Goodnight Kal,” Dick said, letting go of him and climbing the stairs up to his room.

Once he was gone, Batman turned to Kal, a faint smile still on his lips.

“This went better than I expected it to,” Batman said. “They seem to like you.”

Kal smiled. “They’re great kids.”

“They are indeed,” Batman said, and paused, looking at Kal. Some emotions that weren’t his lingered on the back of Kal’s mind. “Maybe you shouldn’t be keeping only to your room anymore. They would be happy to play with you sometime.” His tone turned dead serious. “But know that if you hurt them I will find a way to make you pay.”

Kal raised his eyebrows. “Of course,” he said. “They are so sweet, how could anyone wish them harm?”

That was probably Batman’s biggest nightmare, so Kal didn’t push the matter further.

“Goodnight, Kal,” Batman said, not walking him back to his bedroom for the first time since Kal moved in. Trusting him to go back there without keeping watch. And that small show of trust moved Kal in ways it wouldn’t have if he hadn’t grown to know Batman’s trust issues so well.

“Goodnight, Batman,” Kal answered, turning to the staircase.

“Wait,” Batman said. “Call me Bruce.”

“Goodnight, Bruce,” Kal said with a smile.

* * *

 Bruce and Kal kept training together, trying to find limits to his powers and something that could hurt Kryptonians, but something between them had changed since that dinner.

They talked more freely, about things that weren’t exclusively related to Batman’s _—Bruce’s—_ quest to know the alien threat better. They talked about life on Earth, life on Krypton, about their parents, about Dick and Jason.

They spent time together outside of the Batcave, playing with Dick and Jason —Dick was especially fond of the Kryptonian tales Kal told him.

Bruce was less tense, more at ease with him, and after a few weeks of training and chatting and laughing, Kal was glad to say he could call him a friend.

* * *

One morning, as Kal was getting ready in his bedroom for another day of training and fun times with the Wayne family, he heard hesitant knocking on the door.

“You can come in, Alfred,” he said, splashing water over his face, hearing the door open.

When he turned around, he realized that it wasn’t Alfred, but Bruce.

“I need a favor,” Bruce started.

“Sure,” Kal said, wiping his face with a towel. “Shoot.”

“Can you keep watch of Dick and Jason for today?” Bruce asked, his arms crossed. “I have an errand to run with Alfred.”

They had grown close enough so that Kal could read some of Bruce’s emotions through their bond, and it surprised him to find him embarrassed. He expected reluctance or distrust, even after all the time they spent together. Maybe he underestimated how much Bruce’s perspective had changed.

“Yes, of course,” Kal said with a smile. “I would be happy to do that.”

Right after the words escaped Kal’s lips, Jason ran into the room and jumped into Bruce’s arms. “He said yes! I told you he would, he loves me!”

“Kal loves me too!” Dick yelled from outside the room.

“But I’m his favorite,” Jason said loudly.

Dick ran into the room. “No you’re not!” He grabbed Jason’s foot to get him out of Bruce’s embrace.

“Yes I am!”

A smile light up Kal’s face. Bruce’s kids were adorable. “I love both of you guys,” he said. “Equally.”

Bruce dropped Jason, and Dick stormed out of the room. Jason ran after him, stumbling on the carpet and yelling “I’ll get you, Dickie!”

“Don’t let them burn the manor down while we’re gone,” Bruce said with a sigh, his eyes betraying how fond of them he was.

“I’ll make sure of that,” Kal chuckled.

“I don’t doubt it.” Bruce paused. “They’re in good hands, I trust you,” he said softly.

Hearing the words coming out of Bruce’s mouth warmed Kal’s heart. A month ago, he never thought he would get to build with his soulmate any relationship that wasn’t at best a reluctant tolerance. And yet, Kal got to see through the grumpy alien-hating facade, and discover the man underneath. He understood why the universe deemed them soulmates.

“Thank you, Bruce,” he answered on the same tone.

And Kal was pretty sure Bruce could feel his love for him through the bond.

* * *

It was during an evening spent watching a movie together that Kal realized he needed to leave. He was sitting on the couch next to Bruce, and was paying more attention to Dick and Jason’s bickering over which character they were the most alike than to the TV screen. He exchanged a look with Bruce, who gave him an easy smile in return. It was such a tender moment that they were all sharing, and Kal realized that he was thinking of them as being his family as much as his parents were.

And that was where he had to draw the line. He had fallen for Bruce —after managing to pierce through his armor and get to know him beyond just Batman— but there was no way Bruce would be in love with him. It was already an achievement that Bruce considered him a friend. Kal had no illusions about his place here. He did not expect to be considered family. Why would he? He was just some guy from another planet, who happened to be psychically linked to Bruce Wayne.

There was no reason for Kal to stay any longer. Bruce knew he wasn’t a threat. They found some rocks from his spaceship that could remove Kal’s powers, so he wasn’t needed here for research anymore. And now that they really got along, the bond settled and was stable enough for them to be apart without it driving them both mad. Alfred was probably too polite to ask him to leave, and Kal did not want to overstay his welcome. He did not want to get too attached either. Delaying his farewell would only hurt him more.

Kal did not want to leave. But it was what he had to do.

* * *

Kal gave Hal Jordan a call from his bedroom, letting him know he would be leaving by the end of the day. Informing the resident Green Lantern was the customary thing to do when leaving a planet, but since he was Earth's first decent visitor, hi phone call took Jordan by surprise.

“Is everything okay?” Hal asked.

“Yeah, yeah,” Kal said. “Just letting you know I’ll be leaving Earth soon.”

“So how have things been going with your soulmate? You know what I think about Batman, I hope he hasn’t given you too much of a hard time. You leaving because he’s an ass?”

“No, it's quite the opposite, actually. He didn’t make it easy but I got to know him, and I really do like him—”

Kal was interrupted by the door opening behind him.

“You’re leaving?” Bruce blurted out.

“Hal, I’ll call you back,” Kal said and hung up.

Kal wondered how there was ever a time when he could not guess what Bruce was thinking, because he could see Bruce’s emotions bare on his face, and was surprised to find sadness.

“Why do you want to leave?" Bruce said. "The kids would miss you."

“I would miss them too.”

Bruce took a few steps forward. He was so close it was almost intoxicating. “Then don’t leave.”

“I don’t think you understand,” Kal said, because it wouldn’t be fair to hide his feelings for Bruce —and they were probably bleeding out through the bond anyway. “You’re my soulmate, and I know you don’t feel the same way but I love you, and I am happy with being you friend, I really am, I just… I think it would be better if I left for a little while. For the sake of our friendship.”

Bruce was looking at him with an intense look in his eyes. “Who said anything about friendship?” he said, putting his hand on the back of Kal’s neck and drawing him down for a kiss.

Kal froze for a moment, unable to do anything but _feel_ , feel Bruce’s lips on his, Bruce’s fingers on his skin, and Bruce’s love, that Bruce had been so good at hiding but that was now singing to him through the bond.

“Stay,” Bruce whispered against his lips.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Kal said, wrapping his arms around Bruce and kissing him.

They were interrupted by a cheer and the sound of hands clapping.

“I knew it!” Dick hollered from the hallway. “Daddy’s in love!”

Bruce let out a laugh, and Kal would never get tired of how beautiful that sound was. Dick ran off, probably to tell Jason and Alfred.

“I am,” Bruce said, his gaze locked in Kal’s.

“He’s perceptive,” Kal said.

“He has good judgment,” Bruce said fondly. “You should move in properly, get your things from your ship and put them home.”

“Home,” Kal repeated. “I like the sound of that.”


End file.
